A SYDNEY man who hid $15,000 in cash in his oven has told of his torment after his wife unknowingly burned the cash while cooking a snack.

The Merrylands father thought the money - from the sale of a car over the weekend - would be safe in the oven, believing his wife did not use it.

He said he was too embarrassed about the incident to have his identity made public.

His distraught wife said she was in tears when she told her husband what had happened. "I struggled to breathe, I said 'I burnt the money, I burnt the money'," she said.

The man had intended to make a mortgage payment with the money. He is talking to his bank in an effort to have the damaged money replaced.

"It was everything I had," he told Ninemsn.

"That money was supposed to go towards my mortgage. I had a call from Westpac on Tuesday asking me when I would pay because I missed a payment on Monday. I told them 'I'll pay tomorrow' but then the money was burnt'."

A spokesman for Westpac said: "We will do whatever we can do within the guidelines to accept the damaged cash."